


Holding Hands Is A Protest

by Heartithateyou



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Coming Out, Cute, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Holding Hands, Let's just ignore that, M/M, Post-Avengers (2012), Random & Short, Randomness, Short, Short & Sweet, Stony - Freeform, Superhusbands, Superhusbands (Marvel), Sweet, no civil war, otp, protest, random drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 09:18:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11010486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartithateyou/pseuds/Heartithateyou
Summary: Tony wants to hold hands with Steve as a sign of protest of LGBT violence.Steve doesn't need a reason to hold Tony's hand.Based on current events.





	Holding Hands Is A Protest

“Hold my hand.” Tony says as he sticks his hand out, scrolling through his phone with his other hand.

Steve is so shocked he stops right in his tracks. 

It takes Tony a moment to notice, before he turns around and holds his hand out. He quirks and eyebrow at him, as though he couldn’t possible imagine why Steve was confused by this.

“What? Why? What?” He rambles, feeling his face flush and his heart start to race.

Its not that he was opposed to holding hands with the other man, to be fair it was a secret fantasy of his.

But in his fantasy, they were dating and he had some clue what was going on.

“Haven’t you seen the news?” Tony asks, his brows furrowed.

“Well yeah… but I don’t think I’ve seen whatever you’re talking about.” Steve asks, feeling his hands sweat in the way that they do anytime he feels clueless. He hates this feeling, like he’s still a man out of time. He’s tried his best to catch up on everything, but there’s just so much.

Normally Tony is the one to help him fill in the gaps, not make him feel even more lost.

“Sorry, I thought it was in the Stark news brief you always get.” Tony says apologetically. Tony put together a little brief every morinng that had all of the most important news bits, ever since the disatoros attempt of Steve trying to find a news website. Somehow he’d ended up on a show where the reporters ended up stripping and he’d all but thrown his phone out the window.

“Anyway, there was a gay couple assaulted in the Netherlands, so these two male politicans held hands to protest. Since then, some other people have started doing it to share their support. Its sort of gathering steam, so I thought it’d be good for the Avengers to get behind it. And you’re here and so is the paparazzi, so wanna do this?” Tony rambles, holding out his hand. 

“Oh, so we’re doing this a protest?” Steve says as his brain processes everything. He was equal parts relieved and disappointed that this was the reason for Tony wanted to hold his hands. And maybe a little excited that he was getting an excuse to hold Tony’s hand.

“Yeah, pretty much. And support.” Tony says with a small smile. “I mean you do support…” Tony trails off, looking at him with a curious expression on his face.

“Yes, I mean of course, yeah.” Steve says nervously, taking a deep breath before grabbing Tony’s hand.

His hand is soft yet calloused from all of his work in the lab. It fits perfectly in his own hand and he feels the warmth radiating from Tony’s skin. He wishes he could ignore how perfect this feels and could just laugh it off. 

But he knew he would replay this moment over and over in his mind later.

“Good, for a second there you had me worried.” Tony says with an uneasy smile. He hated seeing Tony look so anxious and hated it even more that he was the reason behind it.

“Worried about what?” Steve asks, trying to focus on Tony and not the massive amount of people gawking at them. Besides the paparazzi, it seemed like everyone in a two mile radias had gathered to watch them.

“You know, I know you’re from a different time when people weren’t the most accepting, so I wasn’t sure how you felt about…” Tony trails off again, his eyebrows still furrowed. Suddenly, what Tony’s saying clicks in Steve’s head and he almost trips over his own feat.

“Gay people? Of course I support them. Tony, I grew up by getting my ass kicked by every cocky jerk who thought they were better than someone and didn’t like people who were different. I don’t like bullies, never have and never will.” Steve says, feeling himself stand a little taller and broader, as though daring anyone to look at them differently.

He didn’t mention the fact that he was also gay. He knew it since he was a kid, but he was already getting beaten up for every other reason under the sun, he didn’t see a reason to add another one.

Besides, it wasn’t like there was a guy in the neighborhood who would have given him a second glance.

“Well that’s a relief. Here I thought it might get in the way of our friendship. Since I’m pretty gay and all.” Tony says with a smirk that doesn’t quite mask the concern in his eyes.

And Steve realizes that when Tony was worried about him not supporting gay rights, he was also worried about Steve rejecting Tony. 

And that was a feeling Steve knew all too well.

“And you were waiting for the right time to tell me?” Steve asks with a soft smile, giving Tony’s hand a reassuring squeeze. Tony looks up at him and he can see the relief clear across his face. A smile blooms across Tony’s face and Steve feels his heart melt at that sight. 

“As much as I hate to admit this, you’re one of my best friends and I was a little worried about losing you I guess.” Tony says, a hint of past pain flashing across his face. 

Steve gives his hand another reassuring squeeze, remembering everything Tony has been through and everything he has lost.

He takes a deep breath and decides he needs to be brave in this moment, to give back to Tony as much as he has given him. He deserves that honesty and trust, as much as he’s shared.

“Tony, I promise I will accept you no matter what. Even if I wasn’t gay myself.” Steve says softly, looking straight at the other man. He feels his heart skip a beat and his throat get tight.

It was something he had barely even said out loud to himself, and it made him feel exhilarated and terrified, all at the same time. It was the same way he felt when he flew with Tony, the rush of flying mixed with the terror of falling.

“What? I mean- what?” Tony says, this time being the one stopping on the sidewalk.

“Well don’t make me say it louder, that’ll really give the press something to talk about.” Steve says with a small smile, noticing that Tony is still holding his hand.

“I just-“ Tony says, a baffled look on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Steve asks back with a laugh.

“Out of the two of us, which one grew up in a decade where homosexuality wasn’t accepted at all?” Tony asks with a pouty expression on his face.

“Out of the two of us, which one is so open with every aspect of his life that oversharing is pretty much his normal state of being?” Steve asks, trying to hold back a giggle at Tony’s expression.

“You know what Rogers, I really don’t like that sass.” Tony says with a smirk on his face.

“Yeah? What’re you going to do about it?” Steve asks, a giggle escaping.

“This is what I’m going to do about it.” Tony says as he brags him by the back of his neck and pulls him into a kiss.

He arms immediately wrap around the other man’s waist, pulling him in close. He kisses Tony deeply, feeling the world melt away around them. Its soft and passionate and intense, somehow way too much and not even close to enough.

Suddenly, Steve is distracted by the rush of noise around them, as they break away and look at the myriad of cameras all around them. The lights are flashing like crazy and all Steve can hear is people yelling their names.

But still, all Steve can see is Tony.

“Well that’s one hell of a protest.” Tony says with a smirk.

“You’re right, but I think they’ve seen more than enough. Besides, with what I have planned next, what we do is going to look more like an illegal activity than a protest.” Steve says as he grabs Tony by the hand and begins to make his way through the crowd.

“Steve Rogers, you dirty son of a-“

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Feel free to leave comments!!


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